Favorite Schools

Favorite Teams

Retirements sweep through N.J. State Police top brass at historic rate, raising concern

nj-state-police-superintendent-fuentes.JPG

N.J. State Police Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes said there are plenty of experienced troopers waiting in the wings to fill the slots left open by a wave of retirements atop the force.
(John Munson/The Star-Ledger)

TRENTON — A wave of retirements rippling through the State Police has washed away a large majority of the force’s top brass, internal records show, including many commanders who have jumped ship for more lucrative jobs.

Since the start of last year, 18 lieutenant colonels and majors — the highest ranks below Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes — have left a State Police command staff of 21, resulting in the greatest turnover atop the force in recent history.

The trend mirrors the pace of retirements from the division overall during the past three years. The ranks have thinned from a decade high of 3,062 in 2008 to the current 2,667, which includes 209 trooper-recruits who recently graduated from the academy.

Law enforcement experts said the unusually large number of departures from the top of the force raises questions about the State Police’s ability to retain veteran commanders and whether the division has enough experienced troopers to move up in the ranks.

"A brain and experience drain of this magnitude is bound to cause instability and uncertainty by virtue of the fact that their replacements will surely need time to learn and prove themselves for the rank and file," said James Ruiz, a former officer with the New Orleans Police Department and a criminal justice professor at Penn State Harrisburg.

The State Police said the changes are manageable and the ranks are built to always have a new set of boots waiting in the wings.

"The overwhelming majority of our commanders serve 25 or more years with the State Police," Fuentes said in a statement. "Many move on to other executive-level positions in the public and private sectors and that attests to their experience and integrity."

He added, "We then fill our command positions with the highly qualified leaders that we continue to produce."

The retirement statistics, obtained by The Star-Ledger under the state Open Public Records Act, show 220 troopers — mostly captains, lieutenants and sergeants first class — have headed for the exits so far this year, outpacing the 187 troopers who left last year.

One big reason for the rash of departures is that many troopers who joined the force in a hiring boom a quarter century ago are now becoming eligible for retirement, and very few choose to stay more than 25 years — the magic number for a hefty pension.

At that level of experience, troopers receive lifetime medical benefits and a pension equal to 65 percent of their final salary. Though they can earn an additional 1 percent for every subsequent year, the maximum benefit is capped at 70 percent of salary.

This month, Maj. Gerald Lewis — who led efforts to bolster minority recruitment, which recently resulted in the most diverse class of new troopers in history — retired after 26 years to take a job as police director at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C.

Last month, Lt. Col. Jerome Hatfield left the force after 27 years to lead Region 2 of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which oversees New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The agency has become a household name in the state since Hurricane Sandy.

In October, Lt. Col. Matthew Wilson, a 28-year veteran, and Maj. Brian McPherson, a 25-year veteran, took jobs as commanders at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

"There’s no reason as I see it to stay," said Jon Shane, a former Newark police captain who retired to become a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "You begin to start throwing money away. If I can grab a pension of $80,000 and in some cases more and go out on the open market and make $120,000 or more, why would I stick around?"

Leaders of the three unions representing state troopers did not respond to requests for comment.

Good and bad

The effects of high-level retirements can be both good and bad, experts said.

Although the retirements could be occurring purely because troopers are reaching pension eligibility, Ruiz said, they could also indicate there is a sense in the top ranks that there might soon be a change in leadership or that the organization is headed in a new direction. That uncertainty always trickles down to the boots on the ground, he said.

"With any police department, street officers are where the rubber meets the road," Ruiz said. "If they are feeling tenuous and uncertain, it could well impact how they approach their daily duties as well as their interactions with the public."

But road troopers and lower level supervisors also gain by departures because it makes room for them to advance in rank and pay. That turnover can be good to get a fresh perspective, said former State Police Superintendent Joseph Santiago, who is now the police director in Irvington.

"I don’t necessarily consider change at the top a bad thing," Santiago said. "It’s an opportunity for people in the organization to move up. When you have those opportunities, that energizes an organization."